Hazardous Weather Outlook Issued for Long Island

The National Weather Service has issued the following hazardous weather outlook for Long Island:

THE COMBINATION OF NORTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 20 MPH WITH 20 TO 30 MPH GUSTS...AND MINIMUM RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES OF 25 TO 30 PERCENT WILL RESULT IN AN ENHANCED THREAT FOR THE SPREAD OF BRUSH FIRES ON FRIDAY.

The temperature will drop from a high near 52 on Thursday to the mid-to-low 30s overnight. A freeze warning has been issued for the East End, where it’s expected to be the coldest. The freeze watch is in effect from 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. Friday. Crops and sensitive plants could be killed by the sub-freezing temperatures, the NWS says.

It will be more of the same Friday into Saturday as the mercury falls from a high in the mid-50s Friday to near freezing early Saturday.

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This flip to a cooler temperature regime is because of an upper-level trough that has dipped southward into the Midwest, bringing modified Canadian air from the northern Plains to the Northeast. This upper-level trough will make slow progress eastward, allowing the cool temperatures to stay, according to The Weather Channel.

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